Oregon State University has embarked on an ambitious plan to build a $200 million research complex to tackle global challenges by harnessing team-based, transdisciplinary research in multiple areas, including artificial intelligence, materials science, and robotics.
In 1971, Howard Hinsdale asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate his technique for building jetties and breakwaters. They wouldn’t do it, so he built a place that would.
Alan Fern and Sinisa Todorovic would like to teach computers and robots to have a little common sense.
In February 2018, when my wife and I first became foster parents for dogs, our motives were partly self-serving. For months, we’d been looking for a puppy to adopt, but demand was so high that we didn’t have any luck. One afternoon I went to SafeHaven Humane Society near Corvallis to ask about their fostering program. Foster parents are given priority if they wish to adopt animals they’ve cared for. Maybe we’d find our puppy while doing some good.
Douglas Boom speaks about Ethernet with a level of respect that borders on spiritual reverence. It’s easy to attribute his attitude to professional pride, a career full of noteworthy accomplishments, and a job that he clearly loves. But it doesn’t take long to understand that there’s much more behind his message, and he’s out to spread the word.
Bahman Abbasi has always been driven to help those in need and protect the environment. As an associate professor of mechanical engineering at OSU-Cascades, he’s doing this by innovating ways to bring clean water to the world.
To increase opportunities for engineering students planning to join the construction industry, the College of Engineering joined forces in 2021 with the OSU Foundation, the Construction Education Foundation, key donors, and construction industry advocates to create the Construction Industry Empowerment Scholarship Program. The program provides a three-year, $30,000 commitment to fund high-achieving, first-generation engineering students committed to joining the construction industry and who face significant financial need, starting in their second year.
Brian Staes grew up in hurricane-prone Florida. His father is a roadway design engineer. His mother, who serves as associate director of the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, was recently appointed to the federal Transit Advisory Committee for Safety by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Emma Knight finished her mechanical engineering bachelor’s degree in 2016, but she keeps coming back to Oregon State.
Her first job after graduating was as a mechanical designer with Systems West Engineers, in Springfield. That brought her back to the Corvallis campus to conduct pre-analysis for what would become the four-year, $159 million Cordley Hall renewal project, scheduled for completion in 2024.
“Being back at Oregon State was quite a full-circle moment,” Knight said.
How do we keep the lights on?
That question weighs heavily on the minds of those who keep the nation’s electrical grid operational. It’s also been a through-line in the career of Steve Hauser, B.S. engineering physics ’76.
“It’s becoming more difficult,” said Hauser, CEO of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, one of the oldest and largest electric energy trade associations in the world.
